Beilinson Medical Center, Tel Aviv 1954

The Beilinson General Hospital of Kupat Holim (the Sick Fund of the Histadrut) was designed for 500 beds in 1954, but the masterplan provided for its expansion into a medical centre with over 1000 beds. Architectural emphasis was placed on a balanced functional and spatial relationship between the multi-storey building and the low buildings, surrounding it. The masterplan of the early 'fifties - a time of huge immigration - was based on a modular design, flexible and expandable. Today the number of patients is near to 1,200 and a new masterplan is being prepared. The extensions are being planned according to the same organic planning principle of simple modular systems, closely related to the surrounding open spaces, as a continuation of the original masterplan.
The hospital consists of an eight-storey nursing wing to the south and medical facilities to the north, connected by a communications core containing elevators and staircases. The one-storey pavilions contain administration, blood-bank, admission, first-aid, and stores workshops and power house at the rear, and are closely connected to the multi-storey building.